Auction Off Your Business

One of the easiest marketing tools I’ve been using for about 10 years is to offer a gift certificate at local charity auctions and fundraisers that “affluent” local residents attend. Typically I give away 3 Personal Training Sessions and up to 5 Group Exercise Sessions.

I value the packages at $225 & $149 respectively (the ‘one off’ rate per session x the number of sessions).

The real cost to me is actually next to nothing since I’m already paying the group ex trainer to run the class that I’m making money off anyway.. and the PT sessions are completed by one of our Level 1 Trainers I have hired who are looking for more clients anyway.

My Level 1 PT’s make about $22 per session, but for these sessions I pay them $15 per session with the opportunity to convert them to a full-time client (which happens more than 80% of the time).

So my true cost is only about $45 which I get to write off at tax time anyway…

Plus, I like helping my local community raise money for worthy causes.

Now here’s where it gets even better!

I actually didn’t even realize how much more important this step is than just having someone win the gift certificate.

What I realized was that during silent auctions they place all the items that are being bid on at tables around where the event is being held. Throughout the night people walk around all the items for auction raising their bids by writing the amount their willing to pay on the sheet placed beside the item being auctioned.

So what this means is that you’ll literally have hundreds of qualified buyers looking at your business brand if you do this correctly. (for only about $45 – even less if you offer less)

That’s why it’s important to market your business and service in a way that people remember. Because if you stand out and build brand recognition through an event like this you’ll not only have the winner of the auction contact you as a possible new client, but you’ll potentially have another 2-3 serious leads call you as well to inquire about your service!

For such a simple marketing tactic it’s surprisingly effective – but it’s important to remember why… And that reason is that you should only be spending your time & money marketing to QUALIFIED buyers.

Sure it’s great to want to help everyone, but at least wait until you’re making a comfortable living before trying to expand your scope.

Now let’s talk about how to find local auctions:

In my experience, the easiest way to find these local auctions are by approaching local schools, and council chambers. More ofthen than not, we are hit up by local businesses and schools to donate something to their fundraisers.

Typically the schools start advertising tickets to their events months in advance. The great thing is they leave their information on how to contact them which is your way in to getting a hold of the person who is responsible for finding ‘donors’ to the event.

Without businesses donating products and services there is no event!

And don’t worry – as long as you are offering anything of value they will NOT turn you away. Remember, you’re helping THEM out because without you there is no fundraising auction.

Eventually, you’ll be getting letters in the mail to donate every year to their event and at that time you can just pick & choose who you want to donate to. Our rule is that we only will do 1 event per month so that we don’t have too many winners calling us at once.

In fact, now we are GOLD sponsors to 3 local schools in our area, meaning we have exclusivity as the only Fitness Facility able to advertise in their school newsletter every month. With 1 school alone, we have made well over $100,000 in revenue over 5 years, just from donating $1,000 per year to the school.

Here’s a simple email you can send to the charities offering your item for bid if they haven’t approached you first:

(email template)

“Hi (Charitable Organization),

I saw in the local paper that you are holding your annual charity event to raise money for the ABC Organization. I am actually a supporter of that group and would be interested in offering an item for your auction.

On behalf of Fitness Revelation I would be happy to donate 3 Personal Training Sessions and 5 Group Exercise Sessions. This item can be offered as one package and it’s total value is $384.

We’re big supporters of our local community and I’m sure a few of our clients will definitely be attending your event.

Let me know if you have any questions and if you’d be interested in our donation for your event.

Have a great day and I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Ben Dulhunty
Owner of Fitness Revelation
Address line 1
Address line 2
Phone #
Email”

(end email)

After you’re accepted they will ask you to either mail your gift certificate to them or they will come pick it up. We always have them come pick it up so that it doesn’t get bent in the mail or lost in transition.

Plus, the organizers get to see your business, which can further help them promote your item if it’s not a silent auction.

Now let’s go over how I do more than just offer a simple gift certificate:

So instead of just putting a standard or generic gift certificate in the mail I like to use a little stealth marketing to pump up my business services. (of course ; )

What I do is print out a A4 sheet of paper with my gift certificate at the top and then 3/4′s of the sheet outlining the benefits of training with my studio team. It looks great, it’s simple, and it stands out from what everyone else does.

That’s guerrilla marketing at it’s best…

So then I take this gift certificate and z-fold it and put it in an envelope. In the envelope I also add my studio business card, as well as my business card brochure (brochure that opens up). On the outside of the envelope I place my return address label (which you can get printed at any office supply store) and write in the centre of the envelope:

Fitness Revelation Gift Certificate
“Begin, Believe, Become”

The last bit of icing on the cake is to offer the charity an 8.5×11 plastic stand up holder that displays the actual gift certificate each person is bidding to win . (Just print up another GC that isn’t signed & place it in the holder as a display only item) I’ll even add a bow or something else that stands out to call a little attention to my display so that everyone wants to find out what it is. You can buy the display holders for about $10 at your local office supply store.

The bottom line is that this marketing technique is a “win-win-win,” which is always what I try to strive for – only in this case there’s one more winner!

Besides your trainer getting more work, you making more money, and the new client getting great value, you’re also donating to a worthy charity!

Very few, if any fitness professionals, do this properly so most likely you’ll be the only game in town and that will dramatically increase your chances of building your brand and becoming a local fitness celebrity where all the “in the know” residents go for the best training in town!

This also works for bootcamps, youth training, and any niche you could possibly think up…

So now use my templates located in the resources section of the SSB to quickly create your own and go out and CRUSH IT this month!